July 11, 2004

One of the great principles of the kingdom of God, one of the great things about the good news of Jesus Christ is that we are free people. For freedom, Christ has set us free. Part of what the freedom we have in Christ needs for us, is that nobody is our judge, but God alone. We don’t need to let someone be our judge as far as feasts, or Sabbaths or many things that we do. We also live in a country that provides a great deal of personal freedom, perhaps more than most any place in the world. But with freedom comes a tremendous responsibility and tremendous dangers. Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, “I love that Statue of Liberty. I think you should have a statue on the left coast called The Statue of Responsibility.”

So the Holy Spirit says in this writing in Galatians, “You are free in Christ.” Stand firm in that and don’t become a slave. But, don’t use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, putting yourself first. Become slaves to one another. The whole law is summed up in a single commandment. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Very powerful to me, what Jesus has said in this great commandment. He says, “The greatest commandment is---I’ll give you two. So he gives the great Shema in Deuteronomy, “Here Oh Israel, The Lord your God is one and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your strength and all your mind and all your soul. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

It took me a long time to realize that the 2nd Commandment was from a whole other book of Moses—from Leviticus. It was Jesus who put those two commandments together. So Paul says to us, “The whole law is summed up in this word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Unfortunately, each of us has this potential, even in churches and congregations. How many churches have really been healthy for 50 years? Or 100 years. The enemy is always at work and there is always that temptation to start snipping at each other. The Word of the Lord says beware of that kind of thing.

Live by the Spirit. Do not gratify the desires of the flesh. What the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh. These are opposed to each other to prevent you from doing what you want. We are involved in spiritual warfare, whether we recognize it or not. We are to use the weapons of the spirit and engage in this great battle. These themes are very sobering for me, yet, triumphant and joyful. You and I are in a battle for our lives and for the lives of our homes and communities and our neighborhoods. A war against the flesh resides in each of us. A synonym for the flesh is selfish indulgence. There is a great war between the flesh and the spirit.

If you are led by the Spirit you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious—fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissentions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing.

We are doing many weddings this summer and I am reminded of the text from Hebrews that marriage be held in honor by all. This means that no romantic intimacy or sexual activity is acceptable to God outside of marriage. One man and one woman as long as we both shall live. There is forgiveness of sins for where we fall short, but there is a world of difference between asking for forgiveness and asking for a license to do whatever we want. Alex Rahill says, “You are not the exception to the rule. You are the reason the rule was made.” We live in a society that has gone wrong in this area, and also, in the areas of pornography and other corruptions in our culture. Part of it is, we have lost sensitivity and the ability to care for people and we try to replace that with sensuality. Now, these are only a few of the sings listed here in Galatians. The reason it is important that we grab hold of this is, “If we do these things, we will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Plain enough. It doesn’t say, unless of course you are a Christian. We can be members of a church and not members of the Kingdom of God. You can sell your membership to the Kingdom of God by giving over to the works of the flesh as described here. That transaction can be done. There is forgiveness, but only with complete repentance. This is the Word of God to us, so we need to look out for those. We need to look out for idolatry—putting things ahead of God. Don’t put sports there. Don’t put movies there. Don’t put music there. Don’t put entertainment there. To have God is to be envied, so beware of idolatry. Beware of sorcery—horoscopes, palms read, familiar spirits. It’s not that they don’t have some degree of accuracy. It’s that they are not from God. Pastor Bieber said to me, “Not everything supernatural is divine.” So let no sorcery be named among the people of God. Don’t even play at it.

Enmities, factions, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissentions, envy. These are self-evident. Don’t be involved with these things. If you do such things, you will not inherit the kingdom. May we not be surprised on the last day and say, “I didn’t know.” It’s clear in at least three different places in the New Testament. I Corinthians 5 and also in Revelation. If this characterizes your heart and mind, then it doesn’t matter what you think about Jesus. You are not going to enter the kingdom of God. We are given this word as a service. But, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There is no law against these things.

I was up north last week. Strawberries are in season. There is nothing like fruit in it’s season. I can have a tomato in the winter, but if you are growing tomatoes in your back yard and I can just go out there with a salt shaker, that’s better yet. Each of us know the difference between fruit in season and fruit out of season. Fruit out of season is better than nothing. Fruit in season is one of the ways you know that you are glad to be alive. The Lord has blessed us richly with this fruit. If it’s in season, our life won’t be characterized by legalism. We’ll be at harvest and blessed and know that we are blessed, even in the middle of trials and difficulties, being blessed with one another as well. I am praying for a fine harvest for us—that we can grow in the knowledge of Him. That we can walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh and that we can experience fruit in season. Fruit is in season right now, brothers and sisters. Let us sit at that table in Jesus’ name.